A charity's payment decision is measured in dollars that reach the mission. Three rails dominate Canadian online giving: charity platforms like CanadaHelps, a direct processor like Stripe on the charity's own site, and the humble Interac e-transfer. They look similar at a glance. Per $100 donation, they aren't.
The three rails, priced per $100 donation
| Rail | Fee on $100 | Charity keeps | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| CanadaHelps custom form | $3.75 (3.75%) | $96.25 | Donor can opt to cover the fee; embedding/linking the form cuts 0.25% (to $3.50) |
| Direct Stripe checkout | $3.20 (2.90% + $0.30) | $96.80 | You build and maintain the form, receipts, and PCI scope |
| Interac e-transfer | $0 to the charity | $100.00 | Donor pays $1–$1.50 at most banks; no recurring giving, no donor data, manual receipting |
On a $100,000 annual online appeal, CanadaHelps at 3.75% costs $3,750 versus ~$3,200 on Stripe — a $550 difference that buys the hosted forms, automatic tax receipts, and donor management the platform includes. The e-transfer looks free until you price the staff hours reconciling it.
The charity interchange discount (MCC 8398) most nonprofits miss
Registered charities processing under merchant category code 8398 (Charitable and Social Services Organizations) qualify for discounted interchange: Visa Canada 0.98% to 2.00% and Mastercard Canada 0.92% to 1.80% — materially below standard commercial bands. On an interchange-plus plan, that discount flows straight to the charity's bottom line. If your processor never asked for your charity registration number, ask them why.
Donor-covers-fee programs: the math and the trade-off
CanadaHelps lets donors opt to cover the 3.75% at checkout; the Canadian Red Cross does the same with an optional "cover transaction costs" toggle. When a donor covers it, the charity's effective fee is zero — which is why the take-up rate matters more than the headline percentage. The trade-off: every extra checkbox at checkout costs some conversion. Test it; don't assume.
Monthly giving and failed-payment costs
Monthly donors are worth more, and they cost less per dollar: CanadaHelps drops to 3.5% for monthly gifts (3.25% with the embed discount). A $100/month donor costs $42/year in fees on CanadaHelps versus $38.40 on Stripe — but involuntary churn from expired cards hits the direct setup harder, because the platform's retry and card-updater tooling is doing quiet work. For bank-withdrawal monthly giving, pre-authorized debit through a Canadian PAD provider undercuts cards entirely.
What charities say: real platform reviews
On Capterra, CanadaHelps holds 4.5/5 from 27 reviews: charity treasurers praise the ease of use and quick, thorough support, with complaints focused on the reports function's learning curve and a busy interface (capterra.com.au/software/1013078/canadahelps). Stripe's picture is split: G2 reviewers (~4.2/5 across hundreds of reviews) praise the API, documentation, and integration ease, while Trustpilot reviews skew sharply negative on account restrictions, held payouts, and slow support — the risk profile of an aggregator with automated fraud controls (au.trustpilot.com/review/stripe.com).
The decision in one paragraph: under ~$50k/year in online donations, a charity platform's bundled receipts and donor tools usually beat the ~$1,000 you'd save with a direct processor. Above that, price an interchange-plus setup with the 8398 charity discount against the platform fee — and keep e-transfer as the "no really, we'd love your $500" option, not the strategy.
A note on steps: this is a cost-comparison guide, not a repair procedure — the decision paragraph above is the actionable part.
FAQ
What does CanadaHelps charge?
3.75% on one-time donations through custom donation forms, 3.5% on monthly gifts — with a further 0.25% discount for linking or embedding the form on your site. No monthly or platform fees; donors may opt to cover the fee.
Is Interac e-transfer really free for charities?
To the charity, yes — but the donor pays $1–$1.50 at most banks, there's no recurring-giving support, and receipting and reconciliation are manual. It scales badly.
How do we get the charity interchange discount?
Process under MCC 8398 with your charity registration on file. On interchange-plus pricing the Visa/Mastercard charity bands (from ~0.92%) apply automatically; on flat-rate pricing they don't — another reason to leave flat-rate as you grow.